Valley crossing

The Case - Valley Crossing

Situation

The situation is that persons have to cross the valley. As the picture suggest there is a ditch in between the two mountains. It can be easily deciphered that single person alone cannot cross the valley. In simple terms the task (of crossing the valley) cannot be completed without involving a group of three (min.) persons. The current situation is tantamount to the case in a company wherein the employee has to work in a team to finish  a specific task. Even though the employee may be efficient but when you are working in a team its the team effort, coordination, commitment that counts rather than individual personality traits. Here, in this situation the employees have to complete the job of getting to the other end of valley safely.

Work Process

Work process can be defined as the steps involved in solving a particular problem. In this case the problem is to cross the valley. The steps required to complete the job are :-

1. Analyzing the situation - Before jumping on to a solution, the problem needs to be thoroughly analyzed. In this case the problem is such that the job cannot be completed individually. This is the ground reality and it is to kept in mind before starting the task.

Analyzing also includes imbibing same target goal in the minds of all the group members. Once all these preliminary activities are done we can move to next step.

2. Strategy to achieve goals - After the analyses of the problem, strategy is to be devised meticulously so as to achieve the target goal. While forming the strategy, strengths and weaknesses of all the team members is to be taken into account. The role assigned should be in such a way so that every group member is assigned a task in which he/she is good at.

The entire focus should be on achieving the target goal which is same for all i.e. to cross the valley. In this case strategy may consists of :

a. Motivation - Keep motivating the group members that the target is achievable.

b. Communication - There should be effective communication between the team members. There are instances when groups have failed miserably due to lack of proper communication.

c. Coordination - Every member has to walk in tandem so coordination carries utmost importance.

d. Trust - This is one of major trait that is required or instilled among the team members if the group has to complete the task. In this task when one of the member is over the ditch, trust will act as panacea to keep him maintaining calm composure which is very important at that particular stage.

e. Team spirit - team spirit plays a very important role in group tasks. In this case when the first person crosses the valley he should not become complacent and walk away from his duty only because now he is safe.  In fact he should carry out the with double energy and enthusiasm considering the fact that the job is almost over and slight effort from his end will complete the job.

3. Execution - Once strategy is made then its only about execution. It is pertinent to note that during execution every member should stick to the roles assigned to them. Also they should strictly adhere to the strategy made after deliberation or as a matter of fact group discussion.

If the steps provided in work process are followed then it is quite unlikely that the task may go unfinished.

Learning from the task

The task has taught me many lessons. I am listing down some of them :

a. Goal Setting - The entire exercise was a successful one because all the group members have clear cut idea of the target they wanted to achieve. Thus it is manager's responsibility to set the goals correct and communicate the same effectively to the team members.

b. Trust - It can be easily deduced that at any point of time one of the group member will be hanging over the valley. At that point of time if the member loses his cool and become panic stricken that it may lead to catastrophic results. It is trust, faith on the ability of team members that will help him maintain his cool and complete the job successfully.

I would like to share a video of one such trust exercise.

c. Team work - Valley crossing explicitly explains the concept of team work i.e. cooperation, coordination etc. The members have to match their steps, walk in tandem to achieve the desired result. If there had been slight deviation in the synchronization then it would have led to some hiccups.

Video for team work :

One more for inspirational video:

d. Time management - If it was for individual to cross the valley then it would have taken more time for three people to cross it. The management quickly grasped the situation and got the job done by delegating three employees thereby saving considerable time.

e. Job distribution - The job was distributed among three employees who were successful in completing the job which would not have been completed if it was attempted individually. The manager must keep in mind the employee's potential and distribute the job accordingly.

f. Risk taking ability - The valley crossing exercise stressed upon the risk taking abilities also. It explained that the employees took calculated risk of crossing the valley backed by various other traits including but not limited to motivation, determination etc. They would have very well deterred by the ditch in the valley but since risk was taken, they were able to succeed.

I would like to conclude the Valley Crossing exercise with a motivational video on Team Work.